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  • Title: [Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the African environment].
    Author: Kornaszewski W, Kornaszewska M, Skotnicki AB.
    Journal: Postepy Hig Med Dosw; 1986; 40(3):331-46. PubMed ID: 3822954.
    Abstract:
    The characteristics of AIDS in Africa differ sharply from those in North America with respect to diagnosis and epidemiology, and in a clinical sense. The study of 78 patients treated in Kinshasa, Zaire during the period of October 1983-July 1984 yielded the following results: 159 out of a total of 1051 hospitalized patients were suspected of having AIDS, and there were 78 proven cases (54 of them died). The average age of 40 women and 38 men was 27 and 31 years, respectively, and the ratio of married people was 35% and 74%, respectively, with a lot of men living in polygamous relationships. In the first stage of the disease weight loss appeared in 100%, recurrent diarrhea in 83.3%, significant loss of strength in 75.6%, febrile conditions in 68.3%, and skin lesions in 58.9%. The ratio of men to women was 5:5, since heterosexuality and polygamy prevailed. Cigarette smoking was the main addition, thus drug addition per se did not appear as a risk factor. Blood transfusions occurred frequently (for instance, in malaria), but hemophilic patients receiving lyophilized preparations were rare. Haitians visited in fairly large numbers after the 1960's propagating the risk of AIDS. Black Africans accounted for 100% of cases. The number of concomitant, opportunistic diseases in AIDS patients in Zaire were: 34 cases of tuberculosis, 32 cases of candidiasis, 30 fungal infections, 21 Herpes labialis and/or genitalis, 19 cases of dermal and cerebral cryptococcosis, 12 cases of cryptosporidiosis, 9 cases of Kaposi's sarcoma, 5 cases of Herpes zoster, 3 cases of aseptic cerebral infections, 3 cases of coccidiosis, 2 cases of toxoplasmosis, and 1 case of pneumonia (Pneumocystis). Tuberculosis, cryptococcosis, cryptosporidiosis, and toxicosis were more frequent opportunistic diseases in Zaire than in the U.S.A., while pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma were relatively rare.
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